Former
Sex Pistols singer John Lydon walked out from a celebrity
reality TV show set in the Australian rainforest.

Early
morning viewers of I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out
of Here! saw Lydon, formerly known as Johnny Rotten,
hug his fellow contestants before walking off the
set.

Television
station ITV said they lowered a drawbridge that separates
the Big Brother-style camp from the outside world
to allow Lydon to leave.

His
departure came just hours after ITV producers gave
the 47-year-old a dressing down for swearing on a
live segment of the popular program that is being
followed by around 10 million Britons each night.

ITV
bosses imposed a time delay after the outburst of
bad language from Lydon when he was told that the
public had voted to keep him in the show.

"He
has been fantastic entertainment on the show and viewers
and his fellow celebrities have found him to be an
endearing, eccentric and sensitive character,"
ITV said in a statement.

"We
respect his decision to quit and hope we haven't seen
the last of him."

The
show strands C-list celebs in the Australian bush,
subjects them to a series of unpalatable trials involving
spiders and snakes, and allows the public to vote
them off the show one by one.

Lydon
earlier successfully completed a task of grabbing
10 stars from a pen full of hungry, pecking ostriches
to win food for his fellow contestants.

Punk
fans had expressed shock and dismay when Lydon's participation
in the show alongside a topless model, a former Olympic
athlete and a pop star's wife, was announced earlier
this year.

There's
no prizemoney for the winner, but previous British
victors - a disc jockey and a cricketer - experienced
big boosts to flagging careers.